BREISHIS - SITTING AND RESTING

July 28, 1995

"And on the seventh day G-d finished His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.  And G-d blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which God in creating had made."   Genesis 2:2

"Taharas", the sixth book of the Mishnah, tells us how the spiritual impurity called Tumah spreads.  The section "Negaim" describes a situation where someone with Tumah (called a Metzorah) is standing under a tree next to someone who has no Tumah.  As long as the Metzorah is walking or standing, his Tumah is not transferred to the other person. But if the Metzorah sits down, his Tumah spreads to everything under the tree, including the other person.  Why, we may ask, does the Tumah not spread when the Metzorah is standing or walking, but spreads only when the Metzorah sits down?

The Metzorah's walking or standing 'blocks' his Tumah from spreading, but his sitting lets it spread. This is a spiritual, non-physical transformation, and we will try to understand it by looking for other places in Jewish Law where a spiritual transformation occurs when 'sitting' or 'resting' takes place. 

For example, one case is Shabbos.  For six days we move around, involved in our weekday activities, but as soon as we rest on Shabbos, a magnificent spiritual transformation takes place, and the spiritual dimension of holiness - Kedushah - opens up.  We work during the  week to earn a living and perfect the world,  but the moving around seems to act as a barrier between us and the spiritual dimension that flowers so beautifully when we 'sit down' and rest on Shabbos.

The topic of sacrifices in the holy Temple provides another example where 'sitting' causes a spiritual transformation.  There are three steps that a Priest must perform with an animal sacrifice.  In the first step, called Kaballah, he receives into a vessel the blood spurting from the animal..  He then walks with the blood to the altar in the second step called Hollachah.  The final step, called Zreekah, is when he splashes the blood against the wall of the altar.  Forgiveness and atonement, the purpose of the sacrifice, is not accomplished by receiving and walking with the blood, but only occurs when the third step is done, namely depositing the blood on the wall of the altar.  The spiritual transformation of Divine forgiveness happens only when the blood comes to rest on the altar.

Intriguingly enough, carrying an object on Shabbos in a public area - one of the 39  prohibited activities on Shabbos - bears a striking similarity to the three steps the Priest performs with a sacrifice.  Carrying involves picking the object up, walking with it, and then putting it down.  The Meiri says that the third step of putting the object down is the essential 'work' of carrying.  A person can lift an object on Shabbos and walk with it for hours, but only when he lets it rest on a surface is Shabbos violated, and only then does he becomes liable for the severe penalties of transgressing Shabbos.

A common theme in these examples is that when movement stops, and something comes to rest, a certain spiritual state is activated.  When the Metzorah sits down, his Tumah spreads to everything else under the tree.  When we stop our weekday activity and rest on Shabbos, the spiritual Kedushah of Shabbos blossoms.  When the Priest deposits the sacrificial blood by the altar, Divine forgiveness takes place.  And when someone carrying an object on Shabbos puts it down, he violates the sanctity of Shabbos.

Judaism maintains that there is a spiritual aspect of reality that transcends the physical world we see and touch.  These examples seem to imply that movement itself can separate us from this spiritual dimension, and coming to rest somehow helps bridge the gap to the spiritual.  Other examples come to mind:

• When our day is done, we rest in states called sleeping and dreaming, states often associated with a spiritual dimension, such as when the Almighty talked to Yaacov in a dream. 
• The Talmud says that sleep is 1/60th of death, that ultimate state of rest when the spirit rejoins the spiritual world it came from. 
• Jewish institutions of learning are called Yeshivas, a word whose root means 'sitting', perhaps signifying that a student's body must come to rest before his mind can open up to knowledge and wisdom. 
• We sit down when  saying Shema while reaffirming our daily commitment to Heaven.
• A Rabbi gives spiritual Rabbinic status to another by 'resting' (Smeechah) his hands on the new Rabbi's head.
• Mishnah 14:6 in Zevachim tells us that fourteen years after entering Israel, Shilo became the focus of worship because it was called 'The Rest' (Menucha).
• On the other hand, Cain's wandering and lack of rest represents his exile from the Creator, a fate similar to that of the Jewish people for the last 2000 years when we've been exiled from our holy Temple.
• In commercial relationships, a 'smeechas ha das' (a resting of the mind) - also known as a 'meeting of the minds' - is necessary for the transformation of selling (kinyan) to take place. 
• Salespeople emphasize that 'nothing happens until the sale is closed', when the negotiating comes to rest and the buyer and seller agree. T
• he spiritual transformation called marriage (Kedushin) requires tangible proof - such as the woman's acceptance of a ring - that she has 'smeechas ha das', a 'resting of the mind', regarding the man she is marrying.

We may now return to our initial question with greater insight.  In the above cases - including Tumah, Shabbos, sacrifices, sleeping, dreaming, and learning - coming to a state of rest serves as a key that opens the door to a spiritual dimension.  When the Metzorah walks or stands under the tree, his actual or potential movement keeps that door closed.  Sitting down brings the physical to a state of rest long enough to let the door open, letting the spiritual intermix with the physical, allowing the Tumah to spread to the objects under the tree. Physical movement seems to keep the door between the physical and spiritual closed, and coming to a state of rest enables that door to open.  We can feel this door open most tangibly when we rest on Shabbos.

With this insight, we can now ask a larger question.  We noticed the similarity between the three steps that the Priest performs with the sacrifice and the three steps involved in carrying an object on Shabbos.  Each involves picking up, transporting, and  depositing.  We observed that the third step is the most significant, bringing either Divine forgiveness with the sacrifice, or causing Shabbos to be violated in the case of carrying.  We will now focus on the significance of the other two steps - of picking up and transporting - and ask how are they different from each other, and what role they play in the total event when the three steps are done together?

Let's review what the Priest does with the sacrifice for these first two steps.  During Kaballah, he stands with a vessel and receives the blood spurting from the neck of the animal that has just been slaughtered.  During Hollochah, he carries this vessel to the altar.  A clue to the significance of these two actions may be provided by the fact that these same two words (Kaballah and Hollachah) appear in relation to another aspect of Jewish Law, namely when a man gives a woman a writ of divorce (a get).  In this process, both the woman and the man may appoint an agent.  The agent appointed by the woman, to receive the get for her, is called the agent of Kaballah (receiving), and the man's agent, to give the get for him, is called the agent of Hollachah (going). 

These two actions done by the Priest - Kaballah and Hollachah - represent two fundamentally different aspects of life. The first action - Kaballah - involves receiving, and taking in, actions that may be characterized as feminine, just as the agent of Kaballah that receives the get is the representative of the woman.  The second action - Hollachah - involves going, carrying, walking, doing - obviously more action oriented, and may be characterized as masculine, just as the agent of Hollachah that gives the get is the representative of the man.

This distinction between receiving and doing is echoed in two interesting aspects of science. In the 1920's scientists came up with a set of formulas called Quantum Mechanics that has become a cornerstone of physics.  It says that all elementary particles, such as electrons that make up electricity and photons that make up light, are both particles and waves.  When seen as a particle, it has a specific location, and when seen as a wave, it has a specific momentum, or movement.  A fundamental rule is that one cannot see it as a particle and a wave at the same time.  If we see it as a particle, we know nothing about its qualities as a wave.  Likewise, if we see it as a wave, we know nothing about its qualities as a particle.  This, called the Hiesenberg uncertainty principle, says that there are two ways of looking at reality that are mutually exclusive.  We can see things as an accountant sees them, as measurable, fixed objects.  Or we can see things as a musician, as an impressionistic symphony of interacting waves. 

This distinction also occurs in Psychology in a theory that says that each half of our brain specializes in a different way of looking at the world.  It suggests that our 'right brain' responds as a musician to an impressionistic symphony of interacting waves, and that our 'left brain' responds analytically as an accountant to a world of measurable fixed objects. 

Perhaps this same distinction is suggested by the first two actions of the Priest. Kaballah represents one important aspect of ourselves and reality, and that is characterized by receiving, and the 'feminine' and 'right-brain' way of seeing the world as waves.  Hollochah represents the other aspect of ourselves and reality, characterized by action, going, doing and the 'masculine and 'left-brain' way of seeing the world as particles.

A crucial message of the sacrifice, therefore, is that the Priest must take both of these aspects of life and reality, and bring them to bear on the third and most important step, the depositing of the blood on the altar.  As we've shown above, this is the step that opens the door to the spiritual aspect of reality, letting the spiritual touch the physical, bringing about Divine forgiveness.  We must take both aspects of ourselves - the receiving feminine oriented, and the masculine action oriented - and culminate the process with the third step that involves 'rest', 'sitting down', and the stopping of action that dedicates all of ourselves to opening up the door to the spiritual nature of reality. 

The reader may already have noticed that the words describing the first two steps done by the Priest - Kaballah and Hollocha - bear a striking similarity to two aspects of Jewish life.  Kaballah is associated with a receiving of the tradition, often of difficult and intangible subjects.  Hallachah, a slight change in the word from Hollochah, on the other hand signifies our performance of the commandments.  If this is more than just a coincidental similarity of words, our Sages could be telling us a very important principle about the nature of Judaism.  Perhaps the message is that we must take the energy we spend in Kaballah and Hallachah, and carry that energy to the performance of a third step, represented by the Priests depositing the blood on the wall of the holy altar.  This involves a kind of 'rest' and 'sitting' that opens up the door to the spiritual nature of reality, powerful enough to evoke Divine forgiveness.

We must therefore end with a question.  What in Jewish life does this third and crucial step refer to?  If the Priest performs Kaballah and Hollachah without doing Zreeka, the purpose of the sacrifice has not been accomplished, and the door to Divine forgiveness has not been opened.  What in Judaism, beyond Kaballah and Hallachah, must we do that is represented by this third important step, that opens up the doors to the spiritual and Divine forgiveness?